Guatemala

In recent years Guatemala has been impacted by disasters of various kinds including volcanic eruptions, floods and droughts. In November 2010, UN-SPIDER had conducted a Technical Advisory Mission (TAM) to Guatemala. As a follow-up, this expert mission was carried out to support government institutions in the institutionalization of a technical group focusing on remote sensing applications for disaster risk reduction and emergencyresponse.

Dates:

Mon, 31/10/2011 to Sun, 06/11/2011

Host Institution:

SEGEPLAN

Mission Expert:

Juan Carlos Villagran de Leon, UN-SPIDER

Mission Profile:

The mission aimed at raising awareness of the Directors of various institutions on the benefits of using space-based information on disaster risk and disaster response management. It also addressed the recommendations made during a Technical Advisory Mission (TAM) one year earlier, which included the establishment of an inter-agency group of professionals working in various state institutions on the use of GIS and remote sensing.

The mission included visits to SEGEPLAN, to the National Geographic Institute (IGN), to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the National Coordinating Agency for Disaster Reduction (CONRED) and to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN).

Mission Outcome:

The mission was able to move forward the establishment of an inter-institutional group of professionals from a variety of Government agencies and universities, which will focus its attention on the use of satellite imagery and remote-sensing applications. The Directors of SEGEPLAN and IGN will institutionalize the technical group through a Memorandum of Understanding. The mission also allowed UN-SPIDER to take note of the comments made by the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, who highlighted the importance of remote sensing applications and raised the question concerning how to improve access to space-based information to track vulnerability and to identify ways regarding adaptation to climate change. In addition, the Minister requested UN-SPIDER to explore how the Ministry could interact more effectively with UNOOSA on the topics of environmental management and climate change.

Guatemala is exposed to various hazards. Floods, droughts and landslides occur on an annual basis in urban and rural communities. Taking into consideration the usefulness of earth observations in the case of drought and other hazards, an Expert Mission was organized to discuss and elaborate a proposal for a potential project in Guatemala targeting the use of space-based information to assess the impact of drought and climate variability on crops.

Dates:

Thu, 13/05/2010 to Wed, 19/05/2010

Host Institution:

SEGEPLAN

Mission Expert:

Juan Carlos Villagran de Leon, UN-SPIDER

Mission Profile:

The mission included a series of visits to government agencies and a one-day meeting with representatives of the Commission on Earth, Ocean and Space Sciences (COCITOE) of the National Council of Science and Technology (CONCYT) aimed at elaborating a project proposal to be submitted to CONCYT for funding. The proposal targets the establishment of an inter-institutional, inter-sectoral, technical committee of professionals that will focus its attention on the use of space-based information to track the impacts of the drought and climate variability events to crops, in particular subsistence crops. The project is based on the request made by the Director General Secretariat for Planning and Programming of the Presidency of the Republic (SEGEPLAN) to UN-SPIDER.

Mission Outcome:

The mission allowed representatives of government institutions to become aware of UN-SPIDER, its activities and the type of Technical Advisory Support it can provide. During the mission, experts from Guatemala identified the need for training activities to enhance the skills of professionals working in government agencies regarding access and use of space-based information to generate information on which to make decisions. Critical issues that need to be resolved when using space-based information in Guatemala were also identified, including: extensive cloud cover, extremely variable topography, and a variety of microclimates. The main output of the mission was the project proposal that was submitted to CONCYT for subsequent evaluation and processing.

Guatemala is exposed to a variety of hazards including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, droughts, landslides forest fires. In the context of space-based information, Guatemala requested the activation of the International Charter: Space and Major Disasters during tropical storm Agatha and the eruption of Pacaya volcano in June 2010 through UN-SPIDER, CONAE and USGS. At the request of the National Secretariat for Planning and Programming of the Presidency (SEGEPLAN), UN-SPIDER conducted a Technical Advisory Mission to Guatemala.

Dates:

Mon, 22/11/2010 to Fri, 26/11/2010

Host Institution:

The National Secretariat for Planning and Programming of the Presidency (SEGEPLAN)

Mission Team:

The mission was carried out by an expert from UN-SPIDER who was accompanied by experts from the National Commission for Space Activities of Argentina (CONAE), the Mexican campus of the Regional Centre for Space Science and Technology Education for Latin America and the Caribbean (CRECTEALC), the Panama-based Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC) and the Sustainable Unit of the Organization of American States (OAS).

Mission Profile:

The mission included visits to 11 Government agencies and representatives of United Nations agencies in Guatemala. The mission also included an inter-institutional workshop organized by SEGEPLAN which was attended by representatives of a variety of institutions, including universities and the private sector.

Mission Findings:

Disaster-risk management is a topic that has been receiving more and more attention in recent years, particularly because of the impacts of events such as tropical storms, droughts and volcanic eruptions. The topic appears in the legislation that was enacted in 1996, and appears also in the National Policy on Social Development established by SEGEPLAN. Furthermore, as a consequence of the large impacts triggered by tropical storm Agatha in June 2010, the government implemented the Programme of Reconstruction with Transformation as a way to avoid the re-creation of risks in public and private infrastructure.

The World Bank is supporting Guatemala through the project entitled Central American Probabilistic Risk Assessment (CAPRA). CAPRA aims to develop a series of software packages to be used to assess probabilistic risks associated with various types of hazards.

The National Geographic Institute (IGN) and SEGEPLAN have been promoting the establishment of a national spatial database infrastructure, and SEGEPLAN recently implemented its National Territorial Information System (SINIT) as a way to promote the use of geo-spatial information in efforts such as territorial ordainment.

Several government ministries and agencies as well as universities have remote sensing capacities, but those ministries and agencies focusing on the environment and agriculture have more strength. The Geographic Planning and Risk Management Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture (UPGGR-MAGA) has been contributing by far more than any other government agency towards the generation of geospatial information concerning risks and disasters.

CONRED operates both a strong Geographic Information Systems (GIS) unit as well as an internal information system that is used to coordinate disaster response within the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC).

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has been conducting Damage and Loss Assessments (DALAs) in Guatemala as a way to contribute to the estimation of impacts of disasters.

While CONRED and UPGGR-MAGA are aware of the International Charter: Space and Major Disasters the products provided by the Charter seemed to target geographical regions that were not considered as a high priority during the recent activation in connection with both the volcanic eruption and tropical storm Agatha.

As a way to contribute to the generation of information during tropical storm Agatha, several government agencies and universities joined forces to establish an ad-hoc group that processed satellite imagery provided by China and Germany through UN-SPIDER and by Taiwan (PoC).

Mission Recommendations:

Taking note of the institutional mandates and arrangements, as well as of the ad-hoc group that was established to process satellite imagery to generate relevant information, SEGEPLAN and IGN should institutionalize such a group through a Memorandum of Understanding or a similar approach and strengthen the skills of the group. UN-SPIDER should also contribute to the strengthening of skills of the group.

The mission recommended to CONRED the institutionalization of a unit targeting remote sensing applications as a way to strengthen its GIS unit.

IGN and SEGEPLAN should elaborate an inventory of satellite imagery which have been acquired by different government agencies in recent years or which have been donated by agencies for development.

CONRED should homogenize a variety of hazard and risk maps that have been developed by a variety of national and international agencies in recent years.

SEGEPLAN and IGN should promote a national policy regarding the exchange of data and information among government agencies and establish the National Geospatial Infrastructure Database of Guatemala.